We talked to Brian Provost, international sales representative and customer service manager of Flowtron, a leading manufacturer of bug zappers, to hear his perspective on the devices’ benefits and to address the common criticisms.Īdditionally, we read as much as we could about bug zappers, immersing ourselves in academic studies and looking at a wide variety of university publications, many from extension offices. He has a PhD in medical entomology and has been studying mosquitoes and other bugs for nearly 40 years. Professor Jonathan Day of the University of Florida also shared his expertise with us. Vosshall has been studying insects for 30 years, with a focus on mosquitoes and repellency for the past 15 years. We also corresponded with Leslie Vosshall, PhD, a professor of neurobiology at the Rockefeller University. Zwiebel has been studying insect behavior for almost 40 years, and he’s been focusing on mosquitoes for the past 25, specifically looking at how olfaction-the sense of smell-drives mosquito behavior. To learn more about bug zappers, we spoke to Laurence Zwiebel, PhD, a professor of biological science and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. To keep an area free of bugs or to prevent yourself from getting bitten, there are much better alternatives. All of the mosquito experts we spoke with and every relevant university extension office we could find unanimously condemned bug zappers. Plus, the force of their electrocution can spew a mist of disease-ridden bug parts out into the air. They are ineffective against mosquitoes and other biting flies, and their otherwise indiscriminate killing can disrupt pollination and generally throw the environment out of balance. But there’s a problem: They kill the wrong bugs.
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